As a travelling musician, I spend a fair bit of time on the road, and the possibilities such a lifestyle brings – a new bed every night, new friends every evening (hopefully) – makes it an obvious scenario in which to place a novel. Character not working? Leave them in the gas station. Need some light relief? Meet a politician in the lavatories of the next Costa. So it’s no surprise that road trips have been used as a storytelling device for such a long time. My new novel, The Book of the Gaels joins this long tradition of road novels (although I didn’t think of it as such while it was being written), which has made me look back at the sub-genre with some interest.
Of course, a definitive Top 10 road novels is almost an impossible feat for one person, for who am I to say which grand works should be on such a mighty list? (I have no desire to revisit On the Road, which I read in my youth, for instance, although it might be interesting to see if I read it now with a less dismissive shrug.) So I’m depending on other readers to expand on my choices in the comments below.
1. Journey to the West by Wu Ch’eng-En
I came to this book through the television series Monkey, and then attempted Arthur Waley’s condensed translation as a child. It’s a gentle, hypnotic read, with seemingly not a huge amount happening – otherworldly Gods controlling Earth and walking, talking therianthropes aside – yet plenty of curious adventures occur along the way. My son, currently 12, loves Journey to the West too. His way in was the story of Monkey pissing on buddha’s fingers. And I guess having merely read that spoiler, you’ll be seeking out a copy, also …
2. Nevada by Imogen Binnie
Because the anticipation can be as exciting as the trip itself, right? Maria kicks herself out of a job she’s bored of and decides to buy a wad of drugs, steal a car and drive … Although it takes her a while to do those deeds, and the trip ends in an abrupt, comical manner when a bout of inner dullness and realisation of the undertaking emerges in Maria’s newly sobered partner-in-trip. Nevada is written with a burst of energy that gently subsides until the reader finds themselves caught up in Maria’s view of the world, a view with many conflicts and confusions.
3. Silk by Alessandro Baricco
A beautiful, sparse, short novel about the silk trade. I must have given this book to a good half-dozen people over the years, such is its pull. Set in 1861, Hervé Joncour searches the world, known and unknown, for silk worm eggs. The heart and warmth of the book comes from the (mostly) unspoken relationship between Hervé and one of the silk dealer’s concubines. If you need a short dollop of emotion in your life, one that can distract you on a short train journey and leave you feeling rather changed, then this is one such book.
4. Knulp by Hermann Hesse
Knulp trudges around southern Germany, an outsider by choice and circumstance, viewed with jealousy, envy and curiosity by those who have chosen not to trudge. Along his journey, he considers his life, his choices, his endings and finally meets his God. Written by Hesse in 1915, this beautiful, subtle book opens up so many feelings and images from within, and has remained with me for many years. This kind of free, deceptively simple writing is hugely valuable, both in music and literature.
5. Austerlitz by WG Sebald
I rate Sebald very, very highly, and this is a sad, thrilling, inventive and despairing work of art, with a subtle absurdity that made me laugh out loud. It’s about a man searching for his past, and as we follow his quest, readers will encounter heartbreak, bleak humour, friendship and the most beautiful and fluid writing. The ending of this novel kept me marvelling for days. I read Anthea Bell’s translation, but if I were ever to attempt to learn to speak and read German, Sebald would probably be the reason why.
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney
A longtime favourite of two people very close to me, this made-to-smile romp is a read-in-one-sitting hurrah, as our brave hero Greg Heffley and his dysfunctional but loving family go on that most foolish of things – the family summer holiday. The trip begins charmingly and irritatingly enough, as longstanding resentments arise, but soon the stakes are raised as the family encounters villainous family the Beardos. And then they win a pig in a village fete. And then their car gets invaded by seagulls. And then, and then – it’s probably best if you just read it. Especially if you’re under 12.
7. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
This fine book, about a world I have little knowledge of, I read while touring one wet winter. It pulled me far from my then reality of skipping from one train to another and placed me in a low-down American landscape of synthetic drugs, broken-family torment and brutal racism. There are plenty of ghosts in the book too, which I appreciate – ghosts of America’s (sometimes very recent) past, alongside more recognisable friends. They help frame and tell the tale of this dysfunctional family road trip to Mississippi State Penitentiary to visit the father who has been incarcerated.
8. The Tokaido Road by Lucia St Clair Robson
A well-researched and fascinating romp set in early 18th-century Japan, with a touch of romance that warmed even my cold heart. Lady Asano escapes the brothel where she’s been hiding and working to seek revenge on her father’s death, necessitating a 300-mile journey from Edo to Kyoto, the imperial capital. The Tokaido Road features the 47 Ronin event (where 47 samurai sought and found revenge, before seppuku, a form of ritual suicide), an event which has fed into endless samurai tales itself (you’ll have seen at least one film on it, possibly featuring Keanu Reeves). The journey has its hooks, but it’s the detail that kept me there.
9. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
This book jumped out at me in a bookshop at Edinburgh airport. Three British Indian sisters embark on a pilgrimage to India to lay their mother to rest. As is the way with families, there are similarities and differences between the three that are mostly hidden, but which slowly come to light as their stories progress. This story is not as light a read as the title may suggest, but there’s enough humour in there to leaven the sometimes bleak nature of the tale.
10. We All Loved Cowboys by Carol Bensimon
I found this book on a breakfast table in a hotel just south of Liverpool. I asked the waitress if I could take it, and she shrugged, “sure”. It’s a coming of age road trip, set in Brazil, via Paris, a light read, but written with a lot of warmth. It entered my life unexpectedly, stuck around for a very short time after which I left it in a festival dressing room, where hopefully it was discovered by someone else.
• The Book of the Gaels by James Yorkston is published by Oldcastle Books. To help the Guardian and Observer, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
• This article was amended on 13 October 2022 to correct the spelling of the novelist Alessandro Baricco.
